After all the complaining about a lack of racing at Bahrain two weeks ago, the F1 circus didn’t disappoint in Melbourne. Rain on race day mixed things up enough that there was passing, crashing, and folks finishing out of the expected order throughout the field. The passing was better this round but passing isn’t plentiful at the front of the field. On the whole, the weekend was very noteworthy for the McLaren boys but the drivers were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Martin Brundle thought it was a bad idea to bring in Jenson Button on Lap 6 for dry tires. A real dry line hadn’t developed. Two laps later, the entire field came in and Button’s warm tires allowed him to speed past the field. That didn’t get him the lead though. He needed Mark Webber to slide off the track ahead of him. Then he sat back and watched Sebastian Vettel’s brakes fail. From there it was a matter of holding onto the tires for a grand total of 52 laps and coast home for the win. I don’t think he passed anyone all race with the exception of guys sliding off the road or crashing or on pit stop strategy.

The race started as a Red Bull affair. Vettel led away while all hell broke loose in back. Massa moved to second, Webber dropped to third, and Robert Kubica found his way up to fourth. Part of that might have been because Alonso spun when he collided with Button and Schumacher was forced off the road to avoid being collected. The seven-time world champion damaged his wing in the exchange and had to pit. It wouldn’t have been so bad for him if it wasn’t for a safety car that pushed him to the very back of the field.

As mentioned earlier, Button was able to make his way up the field thanks to pit strategy but it wasn’t until bad luck struck Vettel that he was able to reach the point. Last round, it was a spark plug failure that foiled the pre-season’s world championship favourite. This time out, he suffered a brake failure that left him beached and out of the race. From there, Button just took care of the tires and took the checkered flag… From John Travolta. Don’t know what he has to do with F1 or Australia but he waved the flag. Maybe waving the flag over Button was symbolic of overratedness.

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The first lap of this race had more action than the whole of the Bahrain Grand Prix. There was passing, crashing, and running order scrambled. The Alonso/Button/Schumacher crash scrambled the frontrunners. Then things were scrambled worse and the field compacted by a safety car period caused by an epic crash involving Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastien Buemi and Nico Hulkenberg.

With the field mixed up, there was passing all over the place as the faster cars moved back to their rightful positions. Fernando Alonso quickly sliced his way up through the field. Schumacher was a little slower in his climb but was able to make his way back to the points paying positions.

However, passing was still very difficult once the track dried out. Alonso couldn’t get by Massa despite being obviously faster. Massa couldn’t get by Kubica despite running him down. Hamilton couldn’t get by Alonso. Hell, even Schumacher had trouble getting by Jaime Alguersuari. While passing was more common this weekend, it’s not back in full force. If the cars at the front can’t make passes amongst each other, all the passing in the back will be for nought. After all, a pass for 10th is one thing, a pass for 1st is something altogether different.

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It was a tough weekend for Lewis Hamilton. First, his ex-girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger topped the score charts on Strictly Come Sequins. Then, when it looks like his McLaren might contend this weekend and tops the second practice time charts, he gets arrested for powersliding his rental car around a corner. On Saturday, he misses the Fast 10 in qualifying and got an 11th place starting spot. In the new F1, you can’t win a race from that far back. Hell, you can’t contend for a podium from there. It was only because of rain and attrition that Lewis was able to get as high as he did. Of course, even a marked improvement over qualifying had to go south at some point. His chances for a podium were dashed when he pitted for a second time. And that collision with Webber didn’t help.

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I know that it will never happen but if F1 ever goes to Portugal’s Portimao Circuit, they’re all set to hold an exciting race. They have an in-track sprinkler system that can wet the track to simulate rain showers. Considering how exciting the changing conditions made this race, the FIA should consider making a wet portion to each Grand Prix mandatory. That would probably create more mistakes by drivers. Teams would have to decide to have a car that’s faster in the wet or the dry. It would certainly test the drivers’ ability to adapt to changing conditions. It would actually be a proper challenge for all involved. That would make too much sense though. Sometimes I’m not convinced that F1 really knows what it’s doing. They want to change things for the better but they aren’t willing to throw the usual away to make things better. Until they’re willing to go radical with ideas to fix F1, I’m not sure that Formula One can be fixed the way the fans want it.

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Let’s give a tip of the hat to HRT’s Karun Chandhok. Coming into the weekend, he had all of nine laps in a Formula One car. This weekend, he put in 41 laps between practise and qualifying. He also accomplished the feat of actually completing HRT’s first race. Sure, he ended up five laps down to Button but considering he and the team hadn’t turned a wheel on track until two weeks ago, they have to consider this a victory.

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The action doesn’t take a long break. The boys are back racing next week in Malaysia. Last year’s race was noteworthy because it had to be stopped for heavy rain and then called short of three-quarters distance because of darkness. Jenson Button survived the rain long enough to take home the win but only half-points for it. I haven’t seen a forecast for the race yet but I can only hope for more rain. After this weekend, we know that rain makes everything better.